Downed by Friendly Fire examines the ubiquity of violence and the need to rehabilitate its prevailing physical classification, especially as it relates to gender. The book seeks to change the meaning ...
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Downed by Friendly Fire examines the ubiquity of violence and the need to rehabilitate its prevailing physical classification, especially as it relates to gender. The book seeks to change the meaning of violence by redefining it to include intended, nonphysical harm cloaked in the presumed banality of normality. Specifically, it looks at the social practices that dehumanize or are exploitative—either emotionally or physically—, which compels individuals to endure shame, humiliation, starvation, exclusion, marginalization, health disparities poverty, etc. This is done through the framework of the unmasking of female aggression, bullying, and competition that are evoked by the structural violence embedded in the racialized and gendered social order.Less

Signithia Fordham

Published in print: 2016-08-15

Downed by Friendly Fire examines the ubiquity of violence and the need to rehabilitate its prevailing physical classification, especially as it relates to gender. The book seeks to change the meaning of violence by redefining it to include intended, nonphysical harm cloaked in the presumed banality of normality. Specifically, it looks at the social practices that dehumanize or are exploitative—either emotionally or physically—, which compels individuals to endure shame, humiliation, starvation, exclusion, marginalization, health disparities poverty, etc. This is done through the framework of the unmasking of female aggression, bullying, and competition that are evoked by the structural violence embedded in the racialized and gendered social order.

Informed by fieldwork in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, this chapter discusses the themes of pain, suffering, violence and death in key texts by Veena Das, Elizabeth Povinelli and Talal Asad. ...
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Informed by fieldwork in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, this chapter discusses the themes of pain, suffering, violence and death in key texts by Veena Das, Elizabeth Povinelli and Talal Asad. Anthropologists routinely encounter scenes of pain and suffering during fieldwork. These are aspects of ordinary life in the societies that anthropologists tend to study and increasingly become important thematics in their knowledge practices and understanding of history. The author then uses the anthropological understanding of suffering and violence to argue that ideas of pain and suffering also serves as a scaffolding for the modern regime of historicity, asking what forms of violence are recognized or misrecognized by it – the answer to which has everything to do with how this is emplotted in the linear narrative of history.Less

Ethnography in the Time of Martyrs : History and Pain in Current Anthropological Practice

Sylvain Perdigon

Published in print: 2014-12-01

Informed by fieldwork in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, this chapter discusses the themes of pain, suffering, violence and death in key texts by Veena Das, Elizabeth Povinelli and Talal Asad. Anthropologists routinely encounter scenes of pain and suffering during fieldwork. These are aspects of ordinary life in the societies that anthropologists tend to study and increasingly become important thematics in their knowledge practices and understanding of history. The author then uses the anthropological understanding of suffering and violence to argue that ideas of pain and suffering also serves as a scaffolding for the modern regime of historicity, asking what forms of violence are recognized or misrecognized by it – the answer to which has everything to do with how this is emplotted in the linear narrative of history.

The Introduction recounts the experiences of the author in the study of racialized female-specific bullying, competition, and aggression in Black and White girls at the Underground Railroad High ...
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The Introduction recounts the experiences of the author in the study of racialized female-specific bullying, competition, and aggression in Black and White girls at the Underground Railroad High School. Describing a number of girls, the author demonstrates the tension between the two groups that is perpetuated by existing social norms and their social environment. It details the overall workings of the book in its examination of gender, race, and violence within the social sphere of schools.Less

Violence—by Another Name?

Signithia Fordham

Published in print: 2016-08-15

The Introduction recounts the experiences of the author in the study of racialized female-specific bullying, competition, and aggression in Black and White girls at the Underground Railroad High School. Describing a number of girls, the author demonstrates the tension between the two groups that is perpetuated by existing social norms and their social environment. It details the overall workings of the book in its examination of gender, race, and violence within the social sphere of schools.

The first chapter presents the theoretical framework of this book by foregrounding structural violence, highlighting the nexus between culturally approved hegemonic female- specific power and the ...
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The first chapter presents the theoretical framework of this book by foregrounding structural violence, highlighting the nexus between culturally approved hegemonic female- specific power and the reproduction of gender inequality. It looks through the prism of symbolic violence and the way its perceived ordinariness, normality, or blandness is implicated in its misrecognition among school officials and the entire student body. It is especially devoted to chronicling the anthropological theoretical claims shaping the ethnographic data presented in this book, especially as they are related to the society’s major social categories: race, class, and particularly the intersectionality of race and gender. It is here that the author begins to propose a theory of gender-specific competition in which the often hidden and/or misrecognized objective of female competition is to lose—in order to win.Less

Frenemies and Friendly Fire at Underground Railroad High

Signithia Fordham

Published in print: 2016-08-15

The first chapter presents the theoretical framework of this book by foregrounding structural violence, highlighting the nexus between culturally approved hegemonic female- specific power and the reproduction of gender inequality. It looks through the prism of symbolic violence and the way its perceived ordinariness, normality, or blandness is implicated in its misrecognition among school officials and the entire student body. It is especially devoted to chronicling the anthropological theoretical claims shaping the ethnographic data presented in this book, especially as they are related to the society’s major social categories: race, class, and particularly the intersectionality of race and gender. It is here that the author begins to propose a theory of gender-specific competition in which the often hidden and/or misrecognized objective of female competition is to lose—in order to win.

The second chapter provides a historical and contemporary overview of the internal structure of the school and the larger community in which it is embedded. It chronicles how today’s inequality in ...
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The second chapter provides a historical and contemporary overview of the internal structure of the school and the larger community in which it is embedded. It chronicles how today’s inequality in what one researcher identifies as “the promised land” (that is, suburbia) replicates the larger social, cultural, and economic forces that are implicated in the school’s academic practices and racial and gender expectations. Further, it is in this chapter that the author’s “nomadic subjectivities” and positionalities as an ethnographer are recorded. It relates specifically how the study was conducted and highlights the problems of obtaining the population of Black and White female students without the perceptions of teachers, school administrators, and parents.Less

Last Stop on the Underground Railroad, First Stop of Refried Segregation : Setting and Methodology

Signithia Fordham

Published in print: 2016-08-15

The second chapter provides a historical and contemporary overview of the internal structure of the school and the larger community in which it is embedded. It chronicles how today’s inequality in what one researcher identifies as “the promised land” (that is, suburbia) replicates the larger social, cultural, and economic forces that are implicated in the school’s academic practices and racial and gender expectations. Further, it is in this chapter that the author’s “nomadic subjectivities” and positionalities as an ethnographer are recorded. It relates specifically how the study was conducted and highlights the problems of obtaining the population of Black and White female students without the perceptions of teachers, school administrators, and parents.

The seventh chapter follows Ally as it reveals how a tall, self-identified, slightly overweight “good” White girl, longs to embody and reflect the idealized, hegemonic, gender-specific image ...
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The seventh chapter follows Ally as it reveals how a tall, self-identified, slightly overweight “good” White girl, longs to embody and reflect the idealized, hegemonic, gender-specific image affiliated with (elite) White women: beautiful, blond, petite and very thin. Her desire to embody elite Whiteness is so strong that she developed an eating disorder and was compelled to spend time in an appropriate clinic. Her unhealthy relationship with food continued during the study and was manifested in her inability to watch others eat, including her friends in the school cafeteria.Less

Ally : Size Matters

Signithia Fordham

Published in print: 2016-08-15

The seventh chapter follows Ally as it reveals how a tall, self-identified, slightly overweight “good” White girl, longs to embody and reflect the idealized, hegemonic, gender-specific image affiliated with (elite) White women: beautiful, blond, petite and very thin. Her desire to embody elite Whiteness is so strong that she developed an eating disorder and was compelled to spend time in an appropriate clinic. Her unhealthy relationship with food continued during the study and was manifested in her inability to watch others eat, including her friends in the school cafeteria.

The conclusion of Downed by Friendly Fire briefly revisits the claims of symbolic and structural violence made in the earlier chapters, harvesting the narratives of the study participants for ...
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The conclusion of Downed by Friendly Fire briefly revisits the claims of symbolic and structural violence made in the earlier chapters, harvesting the narratives of the study participants for evidence of how each of them resists or embodies (or sometimes both embodies and resists) the imagined banality of normalcy. Moreover, it is where the authors makes the final case for the excavation, resuscitation and rehabilitation of violence—by another name.Less

Excavating, Resuscitating, and Rehabilitating Violence—by Another Name

Signithia Fordham

Published in print: 2016-08-15

The conclusion of Downed by Friendly Fire briefly revisits the claims of symbolic and structural violence made in the earlier chapters, harvesting the narratives of the study participants for evidence of how each of them resists or embodies (or sometimes both embodies and resists) the imagined banality of normalcy. Moreover, it is where the authors makes the final case for the excavation, resuscitation and rehabilitation of violence—by another name.

Arguments are explored concerning the need (or otherwise) of establishing an ideal just society and fair principles for distribution, along with differing theoretical approaches to those subjects, ...
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Arguments are explored concerning the need (or otherwise) of establishing an ideal just society and fair principles for distribution, along with differing theoretical approaches to those subjects, including perfecting institutions versus ‘social realisation’ and the case for ‘public reasoning’ (Sen 2010), Rawls’ (1973) ‘veil of ignorance’ and Walzer’s distributive spheres and case for complex equality. Approaches to understanding the social meaning of goods, their practical and symbolic roles, value and priority, are similarly discussed. An alternative paradigm based on ‘cultural recognition’ has been proposed by Fraser (1997) and other feminist authors, concerned with the construction and valuing of group as opposed to class) identities. Attitudes to difference assume importance as, it is argued, does the recognition of sameness. The meaning of cultural is explored, and a case made for recognition in a wider sense. Distributive and cultural recognition paradigms have generally been held to be separate, although various proposals have been made regarding their precedence and inter-relationship. The chapter concludes with the proposition that the inter-relationship can be conceived by deconstructing the components and stages of distributive processes and identifying where scope for misrecognition intervenes.Less

Social justice

Sally Witcher

Published in print: 2013-09-27

Arguments are explored concerning the need (or otherwise) of establishing an ideal just society and fair principles for distribution, along with differing theoretical approaches to those subjects, including perfecting institutions versus ‘social realisation’ and the case for ‘public reasoning’ (Sen 2010), Rawls’ (1973) ‘veil of ignorance’ and Walzer’s distributive spheres and case for complex equality. Approaches to understanding the social meaning of goods, their practical and symbolic roles, value and priority, are similarly discussed. An alternative paradigm based on ‘cultural recognition’ has been proposed by Fraser (1997) and other feminist authors, concerned with the construction and valuing of group as opposed to class) identities. Attitudes to difference assume importance as, it is argued, does the recognition of sameness. The meaning of cultural is explored, and a case made for recognition in a wider sense. Distributive and cultural recognition paradigms have generally been held to be separate, although various proposals have been made regarding their precedence and inter-relationship. The chapter concludes with the proposition that the inter-relationship can be conceived by deconstructing the components and stages of distributive processes and identifying where scope for misrecognition intervenes.

Drawing on literatures from gender, race, disability and queer theory, this chapter identifies shared themes and aims to develop a generic understanding of discrimination. Discrimination can be ...
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Drawing on literatures from gender, race, disability and queer theory, this chapter identifies shared themes and aims to develop a generic understanding of discrimination. Discrimination can be understood as misrecognition, raising questions about where identity comes from – whether characteristics originate in biological make-up or are externally created and attributed - how it is conveyed and what could be done to increase accuracy. Negative attitudes create distortions; diminishing (Thompson 1998) or demonizing. Oppression can be understood as enforced identity distortion; a cause of exclusion or requirement for inclusion. Identity may be understood via indicators of having, being and doing as well as contextual factors. The case for and against social categorization is explored, along with scope for cross-group alliances offered by multiple characteristics. Using different discourses, the literatures argue that inequalities arise consequent on the structure and culture of society as defined by dominant groups (social model). They refute biological/genetic explanations (individual/medical model). An interactive model draws attention to the process through which individuals interact with their environment. This suggests 3 sites for ‘adjustment’ to maximize social inclusion: the removal of social barriers, increasing individuals’ resources and reducing scope for misrecognition within distributive processes.Less

Discrimination

Sally Witcher

Published in print: 2013-09-27

Drawing on literatures from gender, race, disability and queer theory, this chapter identifies shared themes and aims to develop a generic understanding of discrimination. Discrimination can be understood as misrecognition, raising questions about where identity comes from – whether characteristics originate in biological make-up or are externally created and attributed - how it is conveyed and what could be done to increase accuracy. Negative attitudes create distortions; diminishing (Thompson 1998) or demonizing. Oppression can be understood as enforced identity distortion; a cause of exclusion or requirement for inclusion. Identity may be understood via indicators of having, being and doing as well as contextual factors. The case for and against social categorization is explored, along with scope for cross-group alliances offered by multiple characteristics. Using different discourses, the literatures argue that inequalities arise consequent on the structure and culture of society as defined by dominant groups (social model). They refute biological/genetic explanations (individual/medical model). An interactive model draws attention to the process through which individuals interact with their environment. This suggests 3 sites for ‘adjustment’ to maximize social inclusion: the removal of social barriers, increasing individuals’ resources and reducing scope for misrecognition within distributive processes.